Tuesday, January 31, 2012

So, Paul, my partner in Chip eating crime, had this bag lying around his house today and was like "Gina, you MUST try these".
"These" would be Lay's Kettle Cooked Spicy Cayenne and Cheese. And, as he, myself, and my blog know... the word Cayenne had me pretty horrified. The last bag of chips I had with Cayenne were super tasty but had me in coughing fits. I stared at this bag for a solid 8 minutes in fear before taking the plunge.
...
Plunge well taken. This was a FRICKIN awesome bag of chips! I'll say it again, I love the Kettle Cooked line; they are rich in potato flavor, crunchy, and comforting. The chip itself is the ideal, close to perfection chip. The seasoning, which is White Cheddar, was that familiar Cheese Lay's flavor, but not as overwhelming as traditional Cheese Lay's often are . It was applied evenly and complimented the smooth potato flavor. Then a slow, hovering, heat crawls up from the Cayenne. It NEVER gets overwhelming or chokes you. It just kicks up the cheese and potato flavors a notch. These are great for people who love the Queso flavored Ruffles... but are hotter and MUCH more sophisticated. I would definitely say this is a practically perfect bag of chips. Twice I shut the bag and put them away, only to reach back moments after for more. I highly recommend these.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Here are the 3 new flavors from Walkers. They're Mystery Flavour bags; these are part of a contest being held in the UK, guess the flavors and win 50,000 Euros.
I love these contests because they give the public chances to try more exotic flavors. Others have already supposed online that Mystery Flavour A is a Dairy/Cheese flavor, Mystery Flavour B is a Meaty taste, and Mystery Flavour C is a Spicy possibly Curry seasoning.

I'm excited to try these. Fingers crossed I can track them down. If anyone spots these in the wild in California or online US retailers, please let me know in the comments.
And if you've tried these, what do you think they taste like?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I was SOO stoked to get these chips. The logo is so cute! These little baggies are from Lay's Arabia... which I guess you can find in many of the Emirates, my cousin grabbed me a few from Abu Dhabi when he went to visit his family for Christmas. So basically, it was Christmas for me too, YAY! First off, the bag is itty bitty. Its like the size of those really small bags that come in the giant Costco variety pack boxes. I love that they are rockin English and Arabic at the same time.

Alright; the point. These taste almost exactly like US Lay's. The salt is more invasive, almost like the potatoes were soaked in salt water pre-fry. Invasive is probably a bad word, but I can't think of a better one. These had a really great Salty flavor... I think a noticeable amount more than what we are used to. Since it's not a highly complex flavor, I'll talk more about the potato. It had a nice potato flavor, but it had a texture similar to the US stuff. I noticed that these, as with the US ones, seem to get LOTS of air bubbles in them. The bubbles make like 2 thin layers of chip separated by air, which make them feel flakier in your mouth. If you love the smooth texture of Walkers, you'll immediately notice the textural difference. Unlike the US ones, these have more potato taste (a little bit more) and less oil taste (way less) which ultimately make them tastier. I think people who don't eat chips often will think these taste EXACTLY like Lay's, so honestly, if you are in the middle east and looking for your Lay's fix, these will satisfy... otherwise, no need to hunt these down, unless it's for the fun looking bag :p

Here's an interesting bag of potato treasure. My friend Dan just got back from his first trip to Israel and was eager to find a bag of chips to bring back for me to show off on the blog. Israel's version of Lay's are known as Tapuchips. Tapuchips come in regular chips, ruffles, and fries varieties... but they also have another line known as Tapuchips Kids. Tapuchips Kids come in puffs and small discs that have very delicate seasoning and melt in a kid's mouth.
We opened the bag and tried a handful; but the handful disappeared in a second... the air-y potato puffs melted away like cotton candy on my tongue. The seasoning was sweet and tomato-y, just what you would expect of Ketchup flavoring, but very lightly applied for kids. The strange thing was that I recognized the taste and flavoring instantly as a snack I used to eat when I had braces... Gerber Graduates Lil Crunchies in Garden Tomato Flavor. While those are made of puffed corn and grain as opposed to potato; they are practically the US equivalent of these Ketchup potato puffs.
Anyways, it was fun to try these even though they weren't exactly what I would normally review on this blog. Dan and I had a good laugh at his not realizing these were for kids, and chomping on these. I wouldn't recommend them as a snack you should try, these should be left to the kiddies; but if you must have a taste, grab the Gerber ones.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Here is a fun flavor from Walkers. It's Cheese & Onion. It's not a fave of mine, but my sister and her friends love it. Walkers Cheese & Onion have a very strong cheesy taste that is followed by a hit of onion. They are packed with flavor and are pretty decadent. The cheese taste isn't Cheddar like we are used to seeing in the US, honestly, I don't know what kind of cheese it's supposed to taste like. BUT it tastes like cheese. The crisps themselves are typical of Walkers; thin, crispy, and potato-y.
I think these bridge that gap a little between Walkers fans and Lay's fans because they have the light delicate potato from a Walkers chip but also have a loud seasoning that appeals to a lot of people like Lay's does. If you are a cheese fan try 'em out.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Here are some photos of Lay's on the shelf in Lithuania from my friend who just got back from there. Just fun to look at and see what flavors they've got over there... enjoy!

Pickles

Oven Baked - Mediterranean Herb and Natural

Grilled Bacon

Spring Onion

Caviar and Creamy Spicy Tomato

Red Pepper and Ketchup Stix

Chili & Lime

Cheese (looks like French Cheese)

Creamy Forest Mushroom (this might be a soup flavor)

and finally Fromage (looks like sour cream and onion, but fromage means Cheese, so IDK)

I am all about that Caviar bag, it looks awesome. Also the Creamy Forest Mushroom and the Grilled Bacon. They all sound delish. Sadly they don't come in small bags (or are hard to find in small bags) and the big bags are hard to carry in luggage, so I couldn't get any. I'm gonna try to track them down online anyway, but for now it's kind of fun just to see what they've got :)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Here's a yummy little bag of Walkers Prawn Cocktail. Prawn Cocktail is an amazing flavor, another gem in Walkers' lineup (Worcester, Smoky Bacon, Steak & Onion, etc). It's unique flavor is what makes it a must try for chip fans. Walkers Prawn Cocktail offers up a tasty little chip full of potato flavor, seasoned carefully with the flavors of a Prawn Cocktail (or Shrimp Cocktail as we call it stateside). The shrimp taste is subtle, while the cocktail sauce flavor is what stands out. The cocktail sauce tastes tomato-y, herbaceous, and sweet. It is SPOT ON the flavor of cocktail sauce. These chips are really special and have such a fun taste. Worth a try regardless of if you like shrimp/prawns or not. :D

Monday, January 2, 2012

This is one of the worst bags of chips I've ever eaten. I was incredibly disappointed with everything about this bag. These are Lay's Limon flavor, which sounded so good when I looked at it on the shelf. The chip was a DISGUSTING fried flavorless mess. My stomach got physically ill from the quality of the chip. It was like a thinly sliced piece of sponge had been soaked in oil and fried for a day. I love lime juice, I go through lime's constantly... I'm from Southern California, so we dress everything up with it here. Being so close to the Mexican border I find these chips all the time... but I didn't try them until I started this blog, because, frankly, domestic Lay's are a let down. I opened the bag and took a whiff, I breathed in a potent but pleasant Lime smell. I grabbed a chip and set it back down to grab my phone... before I did, I licked my fingers and got a ton of delicious Lime taste... as if I had just been holding a real fresh lime. When I reached back in I noticed the ugly texture of the chips. I put one in my mouth and got smacked in the face with a TON of Lime flavor. Over done and heavily applied, this flavor was intense. The chip taste itself though was what stood out. It tasted NOTHING of potato... I tried and tried to find the potato taste but there was absolutely none. The oil tasted like cheap drive thru french fry oil, it was overwhelming. Lime and cheap oil... nothing could be less appealing. I had 5 chips.... that is all that I could stand. I would never buy these again, recommend them, or even give them away to a hobo. I need a tums a.s.a.p.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

I am admittedly not a BBQ chip fan, so when I bought this bag I was really holding off on eating it. It's Lay's Tangy Carolina BBQ, from their Regional inspired selections. This flavor is based on BBQ from the South (obviously, Carolina lol), and is available nationwide. When some friends came over I figured it was the perfect chance to pour these in a bowl and share. They got in there first and I started to hear a lot of noise about how good they were... so I grabbed a couple and had a bite. These were a HUGE surprise. The BBQ seasoning is relatively light when compared to straight up BBQ. It is in fact Tangy and has a bit of a spicy burn to it that comes from Cayenne Pepper and Vinegar. You also get a nice bit of BBQ sweetness from the Brown Sugar they use. I found the seasoning to be THE BEST BBQ flavor I've ever tasted (bold statement, I know). The chips were not a large as I usually see from Lay's, they were medium sized, which I prefer. They were still typical of Lay's texture... that feeling that they've had all the flavor and life sucked out of them from sitting in oil for so long. There is no substantial potato flavor that can be noticed either. However, the pleasant seasoning makes these a worthwhile bag of chips, especially for a party. Now, unfortunately, I had one personal issue with this seasoning, and it really disappointed me... the Cayenne Pepper kept choking me every couple of chips. I don't know if it was a spice that I couldn't handle or a spice that I might potentially be allergic to, but either way, I couldn't really enjoy that chips after a couple choking fits. I was the only person this happened to out of the 6 of us. So, while I REALLY REALLY recommend these if you want an easy to find shelf brand of BBQ chips; I have to let you know that if you are sensitive to Cayenne this could happen to you too. If you are addicted to BBQ Lay's I insist you try these out, these were made for you. Check em out.

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Welcome

The Chip Report is an attempt to taste every Frito-Lay chip around the world. We're here to talk about international flavors and marketing, compare them to the status-quo here at home, and track down hard to find bags like a scavenger hunt. You can join in too, let us know about bags of chips you've come across in your travels!

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Looking for info about a particular flavor? Use the search bar to find what you seek. Want to browse similar flavors? Each entry is tagged by Style of Chip, Country of Origin, Flavors/Ingredients, and Type of Entry (i.e. Review or News etc.)... if you want to see more, just click on the tag that peaks your curiosity. Stories about new flavors being released are usually labeled "Gotta Get At This". Stories about new contests being held around the world are labeled "Contest". Reviews are labeled simply by bag name.Enjoy!